


Infinity

by BIutifulSnake



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff and Angst, Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Hurt/Comfort, Keith (Voltron) is a Dork, Kuron is Shiro (Voltron)'s Clone, Lance (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Light Angst, M/M, Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 15:09:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14381262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BIutifulSnake/pseuds/BIutifulSnake
Summary: While Keith is still away at the Blade of Marmora, Lance start noticing things about him that he wouldn't think of before.He doesn't understand why he notices those things or what's going on inside of his mind.And most important, he doesn't understand what is it that he feels whenever he thinks of Keith.—————————————A kind of 3+1 featuring oblivious pining Lance.





	Infinity

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This 9k+ monstrosity is mostly self-indulgent and a way I had to practice fighting scenes, so I apologize if it's kind of rocky.  
> Also, English isn't my first tongue, so if you see a grammatical error please notify me so I can fix it!  
> Lastly, this was supossed to be really lightheartly and cute but turned out to be completely different of what I had in mind, so you're warned lol.  
> Its name's after Infinity, from One Direction, even though it probably has nothing to do with that song, but it inspired me so yeah.  
> Having it all out of the way, please enjoy!

 Lance didn’t know when it had started.

 If he was being honest, he never even realized it until it was too late.

It wasn’t as if he ever felt something like that before, though. Which, for everyone, was weird. People who didn’t really know him always assumed he was the type of guy that fell in love as easily as one would breathe, just because for most of his life he dreamed about loving someone with everything he had. But it wasn’t like that, Lance had never fallen in love.

 Did he have crushes? Of course, after all, he was sure everyone did. But they were just that, _crushes_ . Persons he liked mostly for their looks and never really talked to, and they were gone as fast as they came, so it never involved some major feeling on his part. He dated as well, but it never actually scaled to a serious relationship. It didn’t annoy him, though, he was young and wanted to have some _fun_ , he had a whole life ahead of him to be in a relationship. Hell, half of the time, he was the one to decide to stop seeing the other person.

 He loved love, and he loved with all his heart. He loved his family, his friends, his dog and every innocent being the team and him were able of saving and protecting every day. He was passionate about it, even if some people would say he was being cheesy. But he had never loved _romantically._

 He flirted, he dated and he kissed, but he never felt something deep towards the person that kind of attention was directed to. Lance was a free soul and wanted to remain that way a little longer, thank _you_ ‒ even if sometimes he would feel a little too lonely and would really appreciate some company. But that’s what Hunk was there for, he proportioned Lance the physical affection he needed once in a while without judging him. He sure was the _best_ best friend in the whole universe, damn. Lance needed to remind the boy about it more often.

 However, truth to be told, Lance always thought he would know when he’d start falling in love, he thought it would be easy to realize. But everyone always felt love differently. And that was the biggest problem, because he could never have guessed what was going on inside of him.

 All the signs were there, basically being shoved in his face, and every other person would have picked up on it the second it started happening.

 Though, Lance didn’t. He confused it all always.

 Not even a giant placard with big and clear letters and full of neon lights would have made it any easier for him.

 He sure was oblivious.

 

* * *

 

 The first time he noticed it, the team had gathered in the bridge to talk with Kolivan about the next planet they would arrive at to liberate from the Galra Empire. Lance was already bored of it even before he arrived. He didn’t have much to do these days, besides training and the missions, and he kind of thought that making everyone reunite to basically hear just Allura, Shiro and Kolivan talking and not really considering the rest of the team’s opinions ‒or at least Lance’s, that is‒ was a waste of time he could be spending on a video game or testing Hunk’s new cooking recipes, since they could just tell them what they had to do after the call ended, skipping all the discussion.

 So yeah, Lance thought it would feel like ages till they’d be able of leaving the bridge, and he was already complaining about it.

 It wasn’t until the call started and Hunk yelled, startling Lance, that he focused on the image in front of them.

 “Keeeeiiiiith!” The big guy sobbed, tearing up a little while he got closer to the screen where the Blades had appeared. Ha, and they called Lance _dramatic._

 But despite his best friend’s reaction, Lance couldn’t help but direct his gaze forward‒ and Hunk wasn’t wrong, Keith was indeed right next to Kolivan.

 The mere image of the boy bought some kind of relief to him. It wasn’t a surprise that the Blade of Marmora was a dangerous place for someone as reckless as Keith, and so Lance was constantly worried about his friend being there (even if he would never admit such a thing out loud), so seeing him, even if he wasn't really in the same room as them, made him feel a little bit better; less guilty maybe, too.

 “Hey.” Keith said with a soft voice and a small smile on his face. It wasn’t much, but the meaning behind it was probably much more deep, especially coming from someone like him, who didn’t really know how to show what he felt.

 For some odd reason, Lance wished he could see a bigger smile on his face than that one on Keith.

 At realising where his mind was wandering, the blue eyed boy blinked, trying to push those thoughts aside and focusing on the discussion at hand‒ which was much more boring, but he preferred anything before thinking of a certain mullet-head.

 If only doing so was as easy as he thought, though. Because every few seconds, Lance found himself staring once again at the raven, without paying attention to whatever Allura was saying, just to mentally kick his own ass at the realisation, and repeating the process basically half a minute later, or less so.

 It was frustrating, really, and tiring. How come he couldn’t even follow a simple task as stop freaking _staring_ ? It was _Keith_ , for god's sake! Yes, he haven’t seen him in what felt like ages, indeed, just everyone in the room with him was going through the same situation, but it was just Keith, at the end. Just plain, common, hotheaded Keith, with even the same old ugly hairstyle.

 Seriously, he was staring at Keith, out of everyone? What had gotten into him that day? Lance really did need to start interacting more with new people. He couldn’t believe himself.

 It wasn’t as if something had changed in the other boy for Lance to be staring that _much_. It was the same smooth pale skin and silky black hair he had last seen when Keith left to officially join the Blade of Marmora, with even the same bored expression Lance had grown accustomed of seeing back when the raven lived in the castle.

 He kind of missed it.

 Something ached inside of him at the reminder that he didn’t know how long would it be before he had the chance to see that expression again after that call would end.

 Once again, he pushed those thoughts to the very back of his mind, where they could hopefully disappear and never come back (he wished it’d actually work this time).

 He needed to actually focus on whatever they were saying if he didn’t want Allura glaring at him one more time, even if he was pretty sure it wouldn’t be the last time, anyway. But as much as tried, he just couldn’t. Watching Keith seemed much more entertaining for his brain than anything else in that very moment.

 Yeah, that’s how _bored_ he was.

 Eventually, the video call had to come to an end, even if a part of Lance ‒one that was very, very, _very_ deep inside of him and he made sure to ignore‒ wished it wouldn’t. Once again, something ached in his chest, and his stomach twisted weirdly as the image of the Blades disappeared. He couldn’t bring himself to care that he didn’t listen to even a _word_ of the whole exchange anymore; he’d ask Hunk later.

 “That’s all, Paladins. Each one of you can resume to your previous activities again.” Coran said from besides the princess, who smiled while nodding.

 It wasn’t long after that the bridge cleared of people, leaving Lance standing there alone, still looking at the place where the image of the video call had been moments before; he didn’t feel all that good, his mind was going a million miles per second, thinking about nothing and everything, making him feel kind of dizzy. He took a deep breathe, trying to steady himself.

 Shaking his head, Lance turned around, making his way back to his bedroom. His stomach kept on twisting.

 He assumed he was most likely getting sick; he’d just sleep it out and he’d be alright once awake later.

 

* * *

 

 A week since the video call with the Blades and five days since their last won battle against the Galra Empire had passed when he noticed it for the second time.

 Lance was hanging on the lounge, laying on one of the couchs, doing completely nothing. He had already trained that day to the point where he was currently and completely _wrecked_ , and gave up with his videogame after losing on the same level for the eighth time in a row. There wasn’t really much to do; after liberating that last planet ‒which had been exhausting, the Galras had fought until they didn’t really have a way to attack anymore, and even then Lance had noticed the anger in them at having to finally surrender at the hands of Voltron‒ Allura had told them to take a few days to rest, because the battle left even her with little force to fight that soon, so there weren’t any missions for him to keep his mind occupied.

 He had his eyes closed and was considering taking a nap, then and there, just to being able of making some time pass, when a dead weight was thrown above him, startling the blue eyed boy.

 “Wake up, sleepy head.” Pidge say, sitting on his belly.

 Lance was struggling to breathe, but was able to answer her: “I wasn’t sleeping.”

 “Then what were you doing?”

 “Breathe.” He said, “something I can’t do now.” He inhaled deeply, trying to take the girl out of above him, but she just laughed and kept steady, not even moving a single inch. “For god’s sake Pidge, get out of me already.”

 “Why?” She kept laughing. _That freaking small demon_ , Lance swore.  


 “‘Cause I cannot breathe!”

 “So?”

 A sounding laughter resonated coming from beside Lance, and the boy looked up in time to see Hunk sitting down on the couch besides his. “C’mon Pidge, leave him already.”  


 She smirked, “what are the magic words?”

 Lance rolled his eyes and took another deep breathe, “uh, please?”

 Pidge made a ‒poor‒ imitation of blaring alarms. “Wrong.”

 “Oh, c’mon! Get outta me already you evil gremlin!”

 Hunk laughed once again and Pidge jumped above him, making Lance lose all the oxygen all over again.

 “Wrong.” She repeated, snickering.

 “Hunk, help your best friend on this one, you big traitor!”

 His best friend laughed at him but obeyed, standing and lifting up the small girl out of Lance, as if she didn’t weight nothing. Pidge kicked the air, trying to free herself from Hunk’s hands but just failing. Meanwhile, Lance breathed relieved, now sitting to avoid being smashed again.

 Once Hunk made sure Pidge wouldn’t try and attack the blue eyed boy one more time, he freed her, winning a glare from the smaller Paladin.

 “What? He was getting kind of pale, ya know?” Was all he said after taking the spot besides his best friend.

 “My hero.” Lance exclaimed while wrapping his arms around him and batting his eyelashes. Hunk chuckled.

 Pidge rolled her eyes and took the spot at the other side of Lance. “I thought you’d be on your bedroom playing videogames.”

 Lance shook his head “I gave up for the day.”

 “You doing anything later?” Hunk asked then.

 “Was thinking about taking a nap, why?” He answered, curious.

 “We’ll facetime Keith in a few hours, maybe you’d want to join us.” the bigger boy said.

 Lance’s stomach twisted at the mention of the raven’s name, “facetime?”

 Hunk nodded, smiling down at him. The blue eyed boy inhaled. A part of him wanted to say _yes, of course I’ll join you both on it,_ but another part of him just… wanted to go to his bedroom and curl up on his bed. It confused him.

 Did he want to spend time with his friends? Of course.

 Did he miss Keith? Most likely, they were friends after all and Lance couldn’t help but think that it was _his_ fault the boy was away, after all.

 But there was just something… That he couldn’t quite put his finger in, that made him suddenly hyper aware of his surroundings. He frowned, his fingers tingling almost in a ticklish way. Why was it so hard for him to decide? What had gotten into him these past few days?

 He felt sick of the stomach again.

 “Lance?” Pidge asked from beside him, sight concern on her voice.

 Coming back from wherever his mind had started wandering, he whispered: “I’ll think about it, I guess.”

 “Okay…” Hunk nodded, and then added, “you alright there, though?”

 Lance shrudded. “Yeah, just… really tired? I think I’m actually going to take a nap now.” He answered, standing up. “See you guys later, if someone needs anything, I’m on my bedroom.”

 He left before his friends could add any comment about his probably sudden odd behaviour, heading towards his room as he had said, after all, he really was tired, so a nap wouldn’t hurt him.

 But it seemed as if his brain had gone on full vacation and wouldn’t just follow a simple task such as sleeping, because Lance laid awake on his bed during at least three hours, eyes on the ceiling, feeling as anxious as ever. He just couldn’t understand himself these days.

 He kind of felt sad, also.

 He didn’t really know why‒ actually, he didn’t know a lot of things lately, he felt like a complete stranger on his own body, not understanding just anything at all, but there was something inside him, maybe it was small voice in the deep back on his head that was being muffled by Lance’s million per second thoughts (but he couldn’t quite recall it to be sure about it), telling him that there was a possibility it had to do with someone.

 Telling him it had to do with _Keith_.

 He took a deep breathe, frowning. His stomach made a weird twist at the thought of that possibility. What was happening to him?

 Lance sighed, leaving the comfort of his bed; napping was a lost battle at this point already, luck was not on his side lately. He left the bedroom, walking towards the kitchen to find something to eat. Maybe with food on his system he’d be able of getting at least _one_ coherent thought and he could understand something of what was going on inside his head for the sake of his mental health.

 Once in the kitchen, he decided making himself a sandwich… a _really_ weird looking sandwich, but a sandwich nonetheless. Hunk had approved those ingredients and spices, so it shouldn’t be that bad.

 During the whole process, the small voice in his head became louder, making it hard for Lance to ignore. It wasn’t now just telling him that his mood switches had to do with Keith, but that he should have accepted joining the facetime with said boy along with his friends.

 It was telling him he was dumb. And he couldn’t bring himself to argue; he basically didn’t even have control of his own mind anymore, and he just didn’t understand shit.

 Lance just wanted to roll up and disappear, make that voice drown and don’t have to deal with these weird feelings and intrusive thoughts never again.

 It was when he was passing in front of the lounge door, heading to his bedroom again, that he heard a group of laughs come from inside the room. A certain loud mirth caught his attention, making him stop dead on track. The door slipped open and he was able of seeing Pidge and Hunk’s heads popping from the couchs. At hearing the sound of the open door, the both of them looked at him, grins on their faces, and Lance’s face flushed red at being caught prying.

 Hopefully, they wouldn’t even think he was doing just so.

 “Lance, buddy, come join us?” Hunk asked with a big smile on his face and a hint of plead on his eyes. Lance looked between his just bitten sandwich and his best friend, as if deciding what to do.

 “C'mon, you a coward or what?” Pidge teased, arching a brow. “You gonna let good ol’ Keith see your chickened side?”

 Lance made a face, pretending to look offended at his friend’s remark. “As if.” He answered, walking towards them. The door slipped closed behind him. “Make room for me, you annoying pidgeon.”

 Pidge rolled her eyes but moved anyway, leaving Lance on the middle of they both just like earlier.

 “Just so ya know, I’m not even close to be a coward.” He deadpanned, making the smaller Paladin chuckle.

 Just when he looked forward did he realize he might have made a mistake at the seat he took, because he was now right in front of the screen, right in front of Keith. If Lance felt somehow taken aback, he tried his best not to show it, instead, he just gave his best smile and said, “hey there man.”

 When the raven haired boy smiled back, Lance _knew_ he should have sat down at one side, or just eaten his pride and go to his room as he had planned, even.

 “Hey Lance.” Keith greeted him.

 Completely oblivious to the heat he felt on his face, Lance smirked just to ask: “having fun studying the blade?” with a wiggle of his eyebrows. Besides him, Pidge groaned.

 “Lance! not in front of Pidge, can’t you see she’s like, I don’t know, ten? How dare _you_?” Hunk shook him by the shoulders, winning a giggle from the boy and another groan from Pidge.

 “Fuck you, both of you.” She said.

   During the whole exchange, Keith looked pensive, having a frown settled on his face and his lips in a straight line. Pidge stole a look at him and sighed. “It was a dick joke.”

 “Pidge!” Hunk shouted.

 She took Lance’s half eaten ‒and at this point, _forgotten_ ‒ sandwich on her hands and gave it a bite. “Do not fuck with me.”

 Keith’s face was filled with realization and Lance deadass laughed at the sight blush on his face, completely ignoring the beat his heart skipped.

 He decided to take mercy on the boy and tried calming down. “Okay, but seriously, how are you doing in there?”

 The raven haired boy just shrugged, color already spread off of his cheeks, “I don’t complain.” He answered.

 Somehow, that response didn’t help Lance’s worry towards him, and at this point he doubted something would ever calm him down unless Keith decided to come back (which he was sure wouldn’t happen anytime soon, and Lance hated himself for it).

 As if reading his mind, Hunk leaned in closer, his usual calm essence comforting Lance almost immediately. “And when are you returning? Or visiting?” He asked, “or you know, just anything, we already miss you.”

 Keith gave a small smile, his whole face softening. Lance was amazed by how expressive his face actually was. How on earth hadn’t he noticed such a thing before?

 “I’m probably visiting soon, actually.” The boy mildly answered. “I don’t know when, though.” Lance’s heart pounded faster at hearing that.

 “Laking of missions?” Pidge questioned with food on her mouth.

“That’s a way of putting it I guess, yeah.”

 Lance arched a brow, but decided not to push the boy into detailing more than that, there was no point in doing so, nonetheless. Keith just shrugged, resting importance to the subject.

 “But like, do you have an idea of when you could be coming?” Lance ended up asking, hoping he was hiding the excitement he felt from his voice.

 Keith smirked, dark purple eyes shining with something Lance recognized as mischief, and he found himself not being able of looking away‒ not that he _actually_ wanted to do just so anyway. He was kind of captivated, somehow.

 “Maybe I do know when, but won’t tell you.” He said, the smirk never leaving his stupid pretty face.

 “ _Dude._ ” Hunk exclaimed, betrayal written all over his face, “that’s not nice,” he continued. “I can’t make you a _welcome home_ cake if I don’t know when you are coming.”

 At hearing such estatement, Keith just, and _literally,_ beamed. As in, his whole face light up, his eyes shone really bright and his lips formed a smile so big Lance would have fallen on his ass wasn’t him already seated.

 Seriously, Lance was _amazed_ at how expressive Keith’s face was.

 “You would do that for me?” The boy asked softly, almost unsure of himself. Lance felt the need of trespass the screen and hug him ( _he shoved that thought in the very back of his mind, hoping to never come across it ever again_ ).

 Hunk smiled gently. “Of course, Keith, why wouldn’t I?” He said, and added: “but you’d have to tell me when you’re arriving…”

 Keith laughed, making something inside of Lance squirm. “Okay, maybe I will tell you, then.”

 “What about us?” Pidge questioned making puppy eyes.

 Teasingly, Keith talked once again: “what do you have to offer?”

  Pidge opened and closed her mouth, not able of finding and answer. She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. “Go to hell.”

 At that, the rest of them laughed, making Pidge pout even more, until the laughter was so loud and contagious she gave up and ended up releasing a giggle, punching Lance in the arm just for being the closest one to her. It kind of hurt, but Lance didn’t actually mind.

 The rest of their conversation went just as smoothly, which was surprising for him‒ Lance had expected him and Keith to start some sort of good ol’ bickering, but it ended not happening, although he couldn’t find it in himself to care. It was much more entertaining and funny having an actual conversation with the boy, something, Lance realized, that he also missed of Keith’s presence.

 It was weird, missing so many things about a simple being, was it normal? or was there just something wrong with him? Because he sure missed his family, and a _lot_ , he normally tried not to think about it just for the ache his heart felt whenever he did. But this… This was _different._

 Lance was scared of digging more in that matter.

 When the conversation eventually came to an end, his heart sank in his chest at the absence of Keith one more time.

 

* * *

 

 The next day, Lance was hanging on the bridge in dead silence, lost in thought while looking at the infinity of the universe, wondering why his heart held so much pain so suddenly. He hadn’t been able of sleeping much the night before; an emptiness had made its way into him and seemed as it didn’t have intention of leaving anytime soon.

 He was curled up on the floor, trying to make up a constellation out of the endless stars that were in his sight, with the intention of distracting himself from the mess that was his head, when he felt a presence approaching and then sitting besides him. He didn’t need to look over to know it was Hunk.

 He stayed there in silence for several moments, comforting his best friend with just his presence, in a way of telling him “ _I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m here for you if you need me_ ,” stealing glances at him from time to time, and Lance appreciated that with all his soul, because that’s what he needed the most in that moment‒ his best friend.

 “I feel weird.” Lance whispered after a while. Hunk looked over at him, raising an eyebrow, but didn’t say a word, giving him his time to formulate. “I… I feel this kind of emptiness in my chest, and I don’t even know why, and my brain goes a million thoughts per second, without letting me catch a glimpse of _what_ could be the reason I’m feeling this way, you know? It’s so… frustrating, and I just can’t help it.”

 Hunk hummed, processing the information Lance had given him, to try and give a good answer that might help him.

 “I noticed you acting this kind of way lately,” he whispered. “As if you were somehow lost, not quite knowing what to do with yourself. But…” The boy trailed.

 “But?”

 “You weren’t… yesterday.” Hunk affirmed. “When we facetimed with Keith, that’s the most content and yourself I’ve seen you in a long time.”

 Lance looked apart from the stars to finally stare at his best friend, clearly curious at his choice of words. “What do you mean?”

 “Just, that.” He simply said, “you seemed so… relaxed? No, that’s not the word…” The boy thought for a moment, and then he smiled. “at ease! You seemed finally comfortable and just, you know, happy. You looked happy.”

 Lance sightly blushed at that; he had hoped his excitement wasn’t that notorious, but once again, he had failed at following a simple task. Still, he didn’t know where Hunk was going with that.

 “What are you trying to tell me?”

 Hunk raised both his brows, as if looking surprised Lance hadn’t caught on in whatever he was trying to say. At the end, he sighed, defeated by his best friend’s obliviousness.

 “Haven’t you, like, considered that the way you are feeling have, uh, something to do with, you know… Keith?” He whispered, somehow managing to keep a firm tone nonetheless.

 Lance turned his head straight one more time, opting to look at the stars, maybe that way Hunk wouldn’t notice his flushed cheeks. He felt his heart increase its beating and came to the conclusion that he couldn’t ignore it anymore.

 He thought of considering it tachycardia or some other sort of heart disease to make it even, but deep down he _knew_ this wasn’t the case.

 He sighed, “I mean, yeah.” Lance started, “I miss him, just like everyone else. He has became my friend at the end, and I’m worried as hell of him being with the Blade of Marmora, but I’m not the only one with that concern. Besides…”

 “Hm?” Hunk looked over at him, waiting for him to continue.

 “I… I feel responsible of Keith being there. I took his lion away, after all, and I just _know_ he did that so I wouldn’t feel worse about the whole situation, so I wouldn’t have to step down, but…” Lance closed his eyes, swallowing the knot that was forming in his throat. “But I would have preferred doing that if it meant that he‒ _that a better and more qualified person would be piloting Red_.”

 “Lance…” Hunk trailed, concern clear on his features.

 “No, no. This is _not_ a pity party, Hunk, don’t look at me like that, it's the truth.” Lance defended. “I would prefer stay here with Coran if that meant Keith would be piloting a lion, he’s like, the best out of all of us, and he just left because he didn’t want to be the Black Paladin and didn't want to make me stay without something to pilot. He did that for me, why would he do that for _me_?” He stared at his best friend in the eyes, trying to find an answer, not caring if Hunk saw the tears threatening to start falling.

 Hunk’s eyes examined his whole face, Lance wasn’t quite sure what he was looking for, but he might have found it anyway, because his expression broke from concern to completely and utter sadness; sadness for his best friend, who didn’t see what was being shoved right in front of his face and suffered so much.

 Lance blinked, a few tears already falling from his eyes‒ he didn’t care anymore, he had been holding on way too long already, he couldn’t take it anymore.

 “Hunk, if.. if something happens to him while being there..” His voice broke, a weak sob escaping his lips. “I wouldn’t be able of… of forgiving myself, ever.”

 “Come here.” the boy said, taking Lance into a tight hug, letting him cry on his shoulder. “Keith’s strong and smart as hell, nothing will happen to him, okay?”

 Lance nodded, “I know that, but… the irrational part of my mind won’t just shut up and keeps telling me that maybe something will go wrong and I…” He sobbed again, not being able of stopping.

 “I know, don’t worry. Everything’s gonna turn out to be fine, you just wait.” Hunk assured while petting his hair. Lance was only able of nodding once again.

 That night, something inside of Lance came to live, as a result of his breakdown, something that had been there for a long time already, but didn’t have the opportunity of blooming. Even if Lance himself hadn’t caught up on it just yet.

 

* * *

 

 If Lance was being honest, he wasn’t surprised at all about the new weapon his bayard could transform to; he had been training his ass off almost without stopping to achieve something, _anything_ that would show himself that he was worth of being a paladin, because deep down he _knew_ he was, but his insecurities would always take the best out of him and leave him feeling as a weight for the whole team, with the single reason that he was able of realizing that he could do better, so, so much better. He was skilled‒ he wasn’t stupid, he could see his own virtues, just like Keith had done, trusting him of taking care of Red. Trusting him of becoming the Paladin he was able of being.

 Thus, Lance was actually proud of what he had achieved, finally having something to argue with to that annoying voice in his head telling him he wasn’t good enough. He was going to show the whole team and Keith he was worth of his title as a Paladin of Voltron, he wouldn’t disappoint them. So that’s why he had made his personal mission to get every time better and better at close combat and fighting with his own new fucking _sword_.

He looked over to the training bot running towards him once again, and smirked. Bayard in hand, he waited until the bot was close to him and quickly moved to the right, kneeling and taken it down with his sword, making the bot fall flat on the floor. With a jump, it stood up once again, facing Lance with a defensive stance. He was doing the same, and so they walked in circles for a solid ten seconds, when the bot decided to attack, its sword pointed towards his stomach while it ran towards him.

 Lance was agile to block its attack with his own weapon and pushed, producing the bot to start walking backwards and, before it could anticipate his intentions, he moved his sword to the left with all his strength, taking the bot by surprise, whose weapon fell to the ground at two arms lengths from them. It turned towards where its sword was laying, but Lance didn’t give it time before he was taking it to the floor again with his bayard, pointing it to its chest. His smirk was shoved off of his face as the bot took him by his legs, making him fall with a flat sound. Lance grunted, taken aback for a moment for the sudden move. He blinked and saw the bot picking up its sword and the boy was quick to his feet, being already prepared to fight when the bot ran towards he where was standing.

 They started combating once again, sound of metal colliding against metal almost non stopping, until Lance squived once of the bot’s attack, its sword passing close to his face. He jumped backwards and kicked the bot in its face, destabilizing it for enough time that he was able of throw its sword away again, but before his rival could run towards it, he took it in his hands, having now two weapons to fight with. This way, Lance was fast to make the bot fall and criss crossed the swords on the sides of its neck, feet on its chest as a way of keeping it without moving.

 “Holy fucking shit.” Someone gasped, startling Lance, who screamed while jumping away from the bot. Eyes now in the spectator.

 “Keith?!” He squawked, hating how his voice sounded. The boy just laughed, his face flushed with a nice shade of pink. “End training session!” Lance ordered when he saw the bot approaching him with both swords on its hands now.

 Once Lance finished his training, Keith walked towards him, curiosity all over his face.

 “I didn’t know you could transform your bayard into a sword.” He said almost in a casual tone, but his amazed expression shoved how impressed he actually was.

 “Oh, this?” Lance answered while picking it up from the ground. “It’s pretty new yet, I’m still learning how to fight with it. Not a big deal.” He downplayed it with his hands, but the smug smile in his face gave himself away.

 “Well, it seems as if wasn’t the only one studying the blade while I was gone, anyways.” Keith smirked crossing his arms, one of his eyebrows quirked in that playfully way Lance had missed seeing in person.

  _Did Keith seriously…?_

  _Oh my gosh_ , Lance thought. A deep blush exploded in his face.

   He opened his mouth to answer, but no word came out. He felt stupid, and the complacent expression Keith had on his face made his everything go on fire. Lance couldn’t _believe_ it.

 Finally, he settled for a weak, “You _wish_ I had been studying the blade, mullet.”

 The smirk on the boy’s face grew bigger as he walked closer to him. Lance almost jumped again. Once Keith was right in front of him, he noticed his eyes; they were a deep shade of dark purple.

  _Huh, pretty._ He absentmindedly thought, taken aback by his own mind once he realized where it was wandering. Still… those were some _really_ pretty eyes… Lance couldn’t just deny it when it was the truth. How hadn’t he noticed them before?

 Suddenly, he realized the boy had been talking the whole time, and Lance blushed once again.

 “Wait, I wasn’t really hearing…” He awkwardly admitted, stroking his neck. “Could you repeat it?”  


 “I said you need to practice your stance a little more, and how you hold the sword. Allura told me she had been helping you, but that she couldn't do much."

 “Oh?”

 Then, Keith smug smile was back on his face. “I could help you with that, if you want to. Besides, it wouldn’t be bad for you if you fought with an actual person instead of the bot.”

 Lance rolled his eyes. “Shut up, you _always_ fight with the bot, Keith.”

 “Well, _Lance_ , I’ll have you know, I also train with Shiro.”

 He sighed. “I guess you’ve got a point there.” He paused for a moment, before saying: “okay.” Keith arched an eyebrow, he wasn’t about to make it easy for him, was him? “We can train together.” He finished, and the boy in front of him beamed at that. Lance didn’t know if he blushed deeper or if it was just the same one that just hadn’t disappeared yet.

 “Cool.” Keith said taking his knife on his hand

 “Are you going to fight with _that_?” Lance asked, incredulous.

 “Well, yeah.” Keith answered, and all of a sudden the small knife started glowing and turned into a sword. Lance was surprised by it. “Shall we begin?”

 The blue eyed boy blinked and gripped his own sword tightly in his hand, Keith’s smirk never leaving his face. “Whenever you ready, mullet.”

 This was going to be interesting.

 (That was the third time he noticed it).

 

* * *

 

 Lance tried remembering the last time having Keith around had been so… Pleasant, to put a word to how he felt now that the original Red Paladin was back in the castle, but he always found himself trapped in a dead end– maybe he had always felt this way and that's why he couldn't quite recall a previous moment where he felt so at ease with him, maybe it was all new. But the truth was, Lance actually _enjoyed_ feeling that way, and enjoyed spending time with Keith, even if they argued about some dumb shit. It was like a kind of comforting feeling; knowing that Keith was _there_ , that he wasn't in danger in the Blade of Marmora, even if being a Paladin had a similar level of danger.

 He was also happy of having him back fighting with them, even if it was temporary. After all, Keith was a essential part of team Voltron, even if he quite didn't know so himself (Lance would need to remind him about that somehow).

 Keith’s fight style had always been something that Lance found endearing. The way he was so quick and light to his feet that it looked as if he barely touched the ground while combating with an opponent was admirable, even if he wouldn't admit it out loud. Keith’s moves on battle were the ones of someone who had been training for a really long time already, even before being thrown into an intergalactic war, and that kept on doing so on a daily basis.

 Lance found himself staring way more than necessary while the boy trained in the past, but he couldn’t help it, it really was fascinating. However, he couldn’t do exactly _that_ at the moment.

 The team were in a mission where they had to infiltrate into a Galra ship to gather information about the possible location of other Galras that weren't happy with Lotor as the new Emperor, and hopefully a small hint of what their next attack or move could be, while also keeping a track of the closest planets still under their power and the ones they could be about to attack. It was pretty dangerous, due they had been able of gather information about the general in command of that ship, and the Galra, named Sager apparently, had a long list of conquered planets and had never lost a fight; he was one of the most important generals of the Galran Empire due to this day.

 Lance wasn’t scared, but he knew that nothing could go wrong, or they would be fucked, and it was really important for them that they gathered the information needed before leaving the ship.

 That’s why Keith and him had stayed behind, fighting a bunch of sentries while the rest made their way to the bridge so Pidge hacked properly into the system. They were most likely a distraction, because the sentries kept coming. The alarms had started blaring a few minutes ago already, when they had taken down eight of them and ran down three corridors closer to were their team was heading –or had already arrived, hopefully. Lance heard noises coming from behind them and turned around just to see at least fifteen more sentries running towards them.

 “Keith, look out!” He warned and activated his shield to protect him from a shoot. Keith blinked, startled, but was fast to activate his own.

 Lance nodded and took his bayard on hand, quickly shooting at the enemies and taking them down one by one. Keith, on his part, had made his way back to where the sentries were and was already taking down some of them, too. He was quick and agile, getting rid of every single sentry as one would take off their socks, but Lance didn’t allow himself to watch him fight in that moment, he needed to cover his back and make sure Keith wouldn’t be caught on surprise or overwhelmed by a bunch of sentries.

 Luckily, they got rid of them faster than Lance thought they’d take, and so he grinned at Keith.

 “Dude, gimme five!” He exclaimed, raising his hand. Keith mirrored his smile and high-fived him.

 “Let’s get going before they send more.” The raven haired boy said and Lance nodded, already jogging towards the bridge where everyone else would be.

 Side by side and weapons in hand, they made their way back to their team, Keith checking the map of the ship every so often to check they were going the right way, because every second they were away from the rest, was a second wasted. When they were halfway, though, the alarms stopped blaring, meaning that Pidge had already been able of hacking the system. Lance heard Keith sigh relieved besides him causing him to steal a glance out of pure curiosity– the boy was frowning and had his eyes on the path they were taking, way too focused for Lance’s concern.  

 They turned left one last time before finding a door bigger than the rest, a sentry’s corpse right besides it. Lance grinned, they were already inside. Looking besides him to stare at his teammate, his smile slowly disappeared at seeing Keith’s grimace.

 “What’s wrong?” He asked, clean worry on his voice.

 It was then that Keith decided to direct his eyes towards him, his vision glinting with inquietude. “I’ve got a really bad feeling about this.”

 Lance placed a hand in his shoulder, squeezing it sightly in an attempt to comfort him. “Everything’s gonna turn out just fine, I promise you.”

 Keith stared at him a few more seconds too long, until his face broke into a tender smile, shoulders relaxing under his touch. Lance felt his heart pound from inside his chest.

 “You are right, I’m probably just being pessimist.” He nodded, “thank you, Lance.”

 Lance, on his side, laughed nervously, cheeks heating up fast. He took his hand away from Keith and gestured with both of them, resting importance to the matter. “Don’t sweat it, buddy, ‘s okay.” Gaining a bit of composure back from whatever had gotten into him, he cleared his voice, glancing towards the door. “Would you make the honors?”

 Keith stared and the door and nodded once again. “Of course,” he answered before placing his hand on the reader and opening the door.

 After it slided open, they both walked inside the bridge, being welcomed by their teammates having the situation completely handled. A few Galras were lying around the floor, apparently unconscious, while Pidge recollected the information and the rest shielded her, just in case. Lance released a breathe he didn’t know he was holding and casually threw an arm around Keith’s shoulders.

 “See? Told ya everything was going to be okay, there was nothing to worry about.”

 Besides him, Keith rolled his eyes, “I think I already said you were right.” He mumbled, most likely already annoyed.

 Lance grinned. “Sorry? I didn’t hear you, what’d you say?”

 The black haired boy inhaled sharply, a hand quickly covering half his face. “Oh my god.”

 A few minutes passed before the team relaxed, noticing that the Galras laying around weren't about to wake up anytime soon. Hunk sat down besides Pidge, to help her in case she needed it.

 Lance, on his part, was just going round the room, the adrenaline from battle already fading out as he calmed down. The mission was turning out to be a lot easier than he first thought it would, which he found also surprising; nothing ever goes this smooth for them.

 He recognized one of the Galras unconscious on the floor, the one named Sager, wondering how had he gotten himself such a title if he had been so easy to take down. He wasn't even as tall as Lance would have thought, being that all the Galras they’d encountered were at least two feet above him; Sager seemed to be at his size, and didn't have any sort of robotic part of him, as most powerful Galras did.

 Lance shook himself out of it and turned around to Hunk– it had been hardly two minutes since he crossed the door, but he sure was already bored.

 “How’s it going?” He asked, seeing that his friends wore a determined expression in both their faces. Pidge had even her tongue poked out upright. _Heh, cute_ , Lance thought to himself.

 “We are halfway there, actually.” Hunk answered, with a gentle smile.

 “We should be able of leaving in five minutes.” Pidge finished, not even looking away from the screen.

 Lance hummed absently, his eyes not really focused on anything as his mind started wandering somewhere else.

 He wasn't surprised when he realized he was thinking about Keith, even if the boy was three feet apart for him or so. He seemed to be thinking a lot about him lately. Not that he minded.

 Lance tried to keep his expression neutral; he knew his face always gave him away, and he didn't want to be asked what was going on in his mind. He wanted to keep those thoughts for himself only.

 He glanced quickly at Keith and saw him with his arms crossed and frowning, concentrated in something. Lance fought a small smile that threatened to make it's way through his face at the sight. Even while brooding, Keith managed to look kind of adorable.

 Just a few hours before, they had been in a contest to see who could eat more food goo as fast as they could before throwing up, when they were cut out of it because Shiro called in for a meeting. Keith’s cheeks had been all covered in goo and his eyes looked comically big when he looked up from the table, as if he had been caught red handed doing something embarrassing. Lance had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that the boy with the serious and angry expression in front of him was the same as the goofy one that had challenged him to eat sickening amounts of food goo just to prove a fucking point that Lance had already forgotten. But it was stupid and silly, that's for sure.

 It was wonderful, seeing how relaxed Keith seemed to be when they were both alone. Just the sole realization made Lance's insides turn to jelly. He hoped to be keeping a straight face.

 Suddenly, he heard Keith screaming a loud “no!” before being shoved to the side, falling against the door. He also heard the sound of a blast, and an impact. Lance opened his eyes to catch the moment where the dark haired boy fell to the floor.

 Keith didn't get up. He didn't even move, and that was enough to make Lance panic.

 He didn't even wasted time in getting on his feet, quickly moving towards his friend, desperate, and was by his side in record time, already taking Keith's head between his hands. Lance was almost sure he had screamed his name in the process, but he was too preoccupied to have paid attention to it. He had taken the shot in the chest.

 Grunting, Keith opened his eyes with more effort that he would normally put on, and stared at Lance, blinking dangerously slow.

 “Are you okay?” He whispered, making Lance's heart contract. He almost broke into crying right then and there, but he managed to keep it to himself and nod instead.

 He glanced around and saw Sager slowly getting up, a big rifle in his right hand. Lance’s panic instantly morphed into raw anger. He noticed his friends getting in position to fight with him, leaving Pidge defenseless while she recollected the information they needed. It took Lance only a second to realize that was Sager plan since the beginning.

 If nobody was guarding Pidge, he could just shot her like he did with Keith.

 Already on his feet, Lance shoot the Galra in the hand, making him throw his weapon away. Sager growled, eyes now focusing on the current Red Paladin.

 Lance wasted no second, quickly commanding his teammates, “You guys protect Pidge, make sure she’s safe while she finishes getting the information. And please protect Keith as well. I'll take care of him.” He said.

 “You sure?” Hunk asked, uncertain filling his voice, but he rushed to Keith anyway, putting him behind them all.

 “I'm sure.”

 With Hunk’s help, Keith somehow managed to stand on his feet, hand in bayard already, and weakly said: “I can fight too.”

 Lance looked at him, eyes already softening at the sight of the raven haired boy. “Keith, you can't fight like this.”

 Barely being able of keep himself standing, Keith argued with a weak “I can.”

 “You'll hurt yourself even worse. I won't risk it.” He said, voice aggravated with conviction. “ _I won't_.”

 Almost as if the other boy had given up about arguing with Lance, he collapsed again, falling on Hunk's arms, who was already making sure not to let anything happen to him.

Lance had to restrict himself into running towards Keith again. Worry never leaving his body.

 Shiro looked almost as if he was about to refuse at being commanded by Lance, but a glare thrown his way by the rest of the team restricted him. He then stepped back, joining them.

 Lance didn't notice any of it all, already marching towards Sager, who in the inability of finding his rifle again, had now a sword taken out of his armor. Lance smirked despite his anger.

  _He was ready for this._

 Without taking his eyes off of the Galra, he transformed his bayard into a sword as well. Sager was already running towards him and attacking, but Lance was quick to block the impact, diverting his opponent sword away from its objective. He took a deep breathe, taking his own weapon in both his hands and leading it to the right side of the Galra; where he wasn't protected.

 With a smooth movement, Lance cut Sager easily, earning a scream from him. Lance didn't give himself time to be proud –he had still to take down the Galra general.

 He had hurt Keith. Lance wouldn't let him out of it easily.

 Being hurt now, Sager movements weren't as precise as before, a fact that Lance took advantage of, quickly.

 Lance blocked another attack, this time aimed to his neck, and with the impulse pushed his knee deep into the Galra’ stomach, making him reel a few steps back.

 Gripping his sword tightly, Sager focused angry eyes towards Lance and, with a howl, aimed to stab Lance; the sound of metal was the only thing that showed the boy his opponent had failed; the sword had hit him on the chest armour, which was barely affected.

 Lance turned the fight to his favor once again, firmly grabbing his broadsword and throwing Sager’s one away with it in a fast movement. Breathing heavy, he deactivated his bayard and marched closer to the Galra, not giving him time to run towards his weapon.

 “You don't get to hurt my teammates and live to say it,” Lance's voice came out rough, punching Sager hard in the face right after the last word.

 And then he punched him again. And again. And again. Until the Galra’s knees gave up and fell backwards, against the fastest wall from the team in the room.

 “But,” he continued, “I'm not going to kill you. That would be way too easy.”

Sager smiled, “You're a coward.”

 Lance shook his head, preparing the handcuffs Allura made each of them have in case something like this went down. “I am not,” with a fast movement, he handcuffed the Galra to the closest object and hummed satisfied once he was done. “I just don't want to waste time killing you when I know once we are finished and leave, this whole ship will blow up.”

 Sager's face flattered sightly at hearing such statement, but Lance decided it wasn't worth his time keep on talking or _fighting_ with him; instead, he turned around, marching towards his teammates.

 “Dude, that was amazing!” Hunk acclaimed with the biggest grin on his face.

 “Thank you, buddy.” Lance answered, eyes falling into Keith's figure on the floor. “I'm going to take him to the castle now, if that's okay.” He said, kneeling in front of the former Red Paladin, but looking at his teammates for approval.

 “Of course, Lance, the longer he is here, the longer it might take him to recover on the healing pod.” Allura assured with a soft smile on her lips. Lance thought he would totally be head over heels over her in that very moment, wasn't the situation the way it was.

 He just nodded and took Keith into his arms, making sure to be careful. He didn't want him to feel pain at all. He just wanted Keith to be okay.

 

* * *

 

 Lance made it to Red in record time, resting Keith into the closest and safest place to the pilot seat he could find.

 The boy’s breath was low but constant, something that took away some of the weight Lance felt heavy on his chest. Careful, he brushed Keith's cheek with his hand after taking off his hat, wishing he wasn't wearing the armour so he could be feeling the skin contact.

 Keith opened his eyes slowly and Lance's heart skipped a beat, something he was already used to. A relieved tear escaped his eye.

 “Hey there.” He whisperer, a smile forming on his lips.

 Keith mimicked him weakly and at this point his heart could have just left his chest. “Hi.”

 “I'm sorry.” Lance wailed. “I promised you everything would be okay and now… And now you…”

 “Hey, Lance.” Keith whispered, a cough leaving his lips. “Lance, look at me,” he took his teammate’s face in his hand to capture his attention. Even through the gloved hand, it set Lance on fire. “I trust you.” Keith managed to sound sure even when he was about to pass out. He, then, intertwined his fingers with Lance's, squeezing them softly. “You should trust yourself, too.”

Lance blinked, clearing his eyes from the tears that had made home in there. A warm sensation of _deja vú_ filling his insides. He stared at Keith, who looked so vulnerable, yet so secure, who even when he wasn't at his best, made it a priority to assure Lance of himself.

 Who was always there for him, even if he wasn't physically by his side.

 Something clicked in Lance's mind in that moment, finally falling into place. He looked at Keith's face, taking in every single detail, his heart pounding hard in his ribcage.

  _Love._

_He was in love with that boy._

_He was in love with Keith._

 The realization hit him hard like a train and he couldn't help the deep flush that took place in his face, suddenly feeling hyper-aware of the fact that they were holding hands. He looked at his side through the window, and saw the castle getting closer. Red had wasted no time and took fly even if Lance wasn't piloting her.

 He smiled, eyes returning to Keith, who was watching him with lidded eyes and the smallest smile. Lance almost _melted_. Instead, he caressed his fingers, “yeah, you're right.”

 Looking again through the window, the weight finally lifted completely from his chest.

 Yeah.

  _Everything would be fine._

 (It was the first time he finally understood it.)

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked this! I'd you did, please leave kudos and comments, it means a lot to me and encourage me to keep writing, and I also love reading your opinions on my work.
> 
> Come scream me at my Tumblr: nofandomhere (I still don't know how to put links on here lol).
> 
> Lots of love and have a nice weekend!


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